Do you ride on a trainer until sunrise then go out?
Or do you have some intense lighting on your bike with some reflective tops?
Curious as I think I’m going to have to start doing this in in my GFT preps, but am a bit hesitant.
Thanks.
Just a halogen headlight and some blinkies. Maybe a reflective vest.
I’ve gotten to where I like riding in the dark better than driving.
no, it’s only dark for the first 15 minutes or so and then the sun comes up so i dress normally. the traffic is pretty minimal at 5:30 anyway.
LED headlight on front - blinking red on back - until sun is up (1st 15-30 minutes of ride)
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I avoid the trainer at all costs.
I do the bulk of my riding in the dark. I’ve got a cygolite Niterover which can go up to 6 hours on one charge. The battery itself is bulky, but I’d rather have light than worry about weight. I also use two red flashers on the rear of the bike, one on the seat-post and one on my camelbak
Other than that, I have a reflective strap around my left ankle. Even with all that, I try to stick to well lit roads.
I’m cheap: I ride on the inside, my buddy rides on the outside – he has bliking red lights behind his saddle on the seat post.
wouldn’t ride without.
I have a niterider lighting system and reflective clothing. I also ride extremely defensively. During the winter I ride to work (20 miles) and back on a fairly regular basis, pitch black both ways. I wouldn’t go exploring I don’t think, but if you know the routes its great. Now its pretty much light when I leave and when I return. I love summer.
I on the road ~30 minutes before sunrise. Usually just a rear tail light. Usually there is one or two cars on the road.
It’s light at 0445 here, how early do you want to start???
I leave at 05h00, sun comes up around 05h30 now. I ride alongside the river, gives a clearer sky + less traffic. Plus, I wear refllecting clothing, and a light in the front and back.
My main problem are animals. Alongside the river it is full of pheasants and rabbits. They like to jump in front of my wheel. One day I will run over one and end up in the river. Nice way to end your life 
4:45??? Jeez. Move to the other end of your time zone, or something.
I’ve lived on the far west end of the US Eastern time zone (GMT-5h ??). Even in June, the sun doesn’t come up until about 5:30am. Of course, on the plus side it’ll stay light until about 21:30 or so. Good incentive to get to work early so you can put in a full day on the job and still squeeze a century in.
In the dark? I have a night sun on the front and a blinker in the back. I also have my rear triangle and fender wrapped in reflective tape.
For me riding in the dimly lit streets at a good speed , can be dangerous as bumps & ruts / train tracks are past the lights range come up quickly.
Me ears freeze at anything below 50 F / 11C , legs / hands / feet are fine.
I am a crack of dawn guy , 4:30 perfect.
I usually go out around 4:30-4:45. Here is the set-up I have and I have been told several times (once by a cop) that I look like a cop from about 1/2 mile back.
5 or 10watt halogen bulb (depending on how long I need my batteries to last.
regular 5 LED seatpost blinkie
bar end blinkies
Here’s the kicker:Cateye EL-300 LED head light, mounted on my left bar end-facing backward! I ride US 441 (Monk and others can attest to the trafic on this one) and as soon as I added the EL-300, cars moved over 1/2 lane. I guess from a distance that light looks blue. I was amazed at what happened when I added that light.
If you have a tri set-up, you will have to be more creative on the mounting, but when patrol cars pull up, turn their overhead lights on and say “Man, those lights are AWESOME” over the PA, you know you are visible.
I regularly wake twice a week at 4:30 am and ride my Computrainer. Been doing it since '98. Only ride outdoors on the weekend. Seems to work for me as I’ve had decent results.
I normally head out about between 4:45 and 5:15 to start my commute to work. So I need about an hour to an hour and a half of good light to get to and from my office depending on the time of year and when the sun rises.
The lighting set up that I am currently using is a custom set up that I built myself.
It starts with two track light heads from home depot, one with a 20 watt halogen spotlight and one with a 50 watt halogen spotlight. For a battery I use a 19.2 volt computer battery, that straps under the top tube. I use a voltage regulator to bring the battery voltage down to 16 volts at the bulbs. By driving the lights at a higher than normal voltage the 20 watt bulb puts out as much light as a normal 50 watt bulb and the 50 watt bulb put out more light than my motorcycle or my car. I have even had cars flash me to turn down my high beam. I need that much light because I have a couple of 40+ mph downhills on my commute and with a normal light I just couldn’t see far enough ahead of me to feel safe. Now with the high beam on, I can comfortably ride at that speed. I get 1 hour of run time on high beams and 3 hours of run time on low beams.
In the rear I have 2 5-LED blinkers and two 9 LED auxiliary brake lights (taken from an old motorcycle project) and I wear a reflective vest. The other day as I when I pulled up to a stoplight I asked a policeman who had passed me a couple of seconds before how my visibility was from the rear and he said that he could see me for at least a half mile and there was no way someone should not see me. That was comforting, because when riding in the dark, my biggest fear is being run over from behind by an inattentive driver.
Do you ride on a trainer until sunrise then go out?
I don’t start earlier than it is light enough. Currently that is ~5:30am.
But I will change jobs in Septemeber. Then I probably ride sometimes to/from work when it still/already dark. For that i bought a multi LED frontlight and a blinking red one for the rear.
Felix
mjp -
i ride in the dark a lot. one thing i would suggest is a bike with bigger, softer tires. it keeps the speed down, to better match your visibilty, if you hit something it is less jarring, you can veer off onto the shoulder at the last second if you need to ( animal or car that doesn’t see you . . . . . ) and still be fine, it is warmer, etc. if you try it, you will be scared as hell next time you take yer skinny/hard tired bike out in the dark - and what is the point of that anyway?
But it also stays light enough to ride until 2100 just now. I have the choice of riding before or after for the next 2 months.